Face of Performance

Ryan Baldridge

Ryan was among thousands of fishers who suffered a serious hit to their livelihood and their traditional Alaskan way of life when the bottom fell out of the historically lucrative commercial salmon fishing industry in 2003. Along with the rest of Alaska, Ryan and his fellow Kenai fishers would see this previously reliable economic resource take a hard downward spiral for too many years to ignore, especially when it represented the family’s primary source of income. When the saturation of imported and farmed salmon began taking a heavy toll on the market, Ryan soon realized that it was highly unlikely that he would be able to make a decent living in the fishing industry any time soon. Trade Act to the rescue!

A friend heard of my dilemma and referred me to Career Transitions in the One-Stop. I applied for the WIA Adult Employment and Training Grant and was accepted. I attended their job readiness and computer literacy class session. The instructors at Career Transitions were supportive, gracious and informative, and the classes helped me update my skills. Along with computer classes, we were advised regarding life skills, resumes, cover letter, job search techniques, and interviews (we even had “mock interviews” and were critiqued). I was able to complete a medical coding class and become a Certified Professional Medical Coder and soon
I became
employed at Belgrade Urgent Care in the collections department.